Democracy support at new Trump-era low

Satisfaction with democracy is at its lowest recorded level in Australia since the 1970s and is a "wake-up call" following the election of Donald Trump.

Four in 10 people surveyed for the Australian National University's latest election study following July's federal poll are not satisfied with democracy, the lowest level since the post-Whitlam dismissal period.

Trust in government is at its lowest since first measured in 1969, with only 26 per cent believing government can be trusted and just 30 per cent of Australians taking a good deal of interest in the latest campaign.

Satisfaction with democracy peaked in 2007, but now Australia ranks in the middle of OECD countries behind the likes of New Zealand, Germany and France.

"What it looks to me like is that you're seeing the stirrings among the public that has happened in the United States with the election of Trump (and) Brexit in Britain," lead researcher Professor Ian McAllister said in Canberra on Tuesday.

"It's not a crisis of democracy but what you're seeing is the start of something, which has happened overseas and it's coming here.